Mothra vs. Godzilla (モスラ対ゴジラ Mosura tai Gojira?, lit. Godzilla vs. Mothra) is a 1964 tokusatsu kaiju film produced by Toho Company Ltd., the fourth installment in not only the Godzilla franchise as a whole, but also the Showa series. The film was released to Japanese theaters on April 29, 1964, and to American theaters on November 25, 1964.
Mothra vs. Godzilla was directed by Ishiro Honda, produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka, and written by Shinichi Sekizawa. The film's plot revolves around Mothra's egg washing ashore, and Godzilla's arrival shortly after, as the latter combats both Mothra and the military.
A sequel to this film, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, was released on December 20, 1964.
Monsters:
Godzilla (MosuGoji)
Mothra Imago
Mothra Larvae
Mystery Bones of Infant Island ("Skeleturtle")
Weapons:
Artificial Lightning Generator
Vehicles:
Aerospatiale Alouette II
Curtiss C-46D
F86F Sabre
Frontier Missile Cruiser
Kawasaki-Vertol KV-107 II
Type 61 Tank
Races:
Shobijin
Alternate titles
Godzilla Against Mothra (English Japanese title)
Godzilla vs. The Thing (United States; England)
Godzilla vs. Mothra (Revised U.S. title)
Godzilla Against Mothra (Godzilla contra Mothra; Mexico)
Mothra Against Godzilla (Mothra contre Godzilla; France; )
Godzilla Against "The Thing" (Godzilla contre "La Chose"; French Belgium; Godzilla tegen "Het Ding"; Dutch Belgium)
Godzilla and the Prehistoric Caterpillars (Godzilla und die Urweltraupen; Germany)
Godzilla Against the Monsters (Godzilla contra los monstruos; Spain)
Watang in the Fabulous Empire of Monsters (Watang nel favoloso impero dei monstri; Italy)
Mothra Meets Godzilla (Mothra möter Godzilla; Sweden)
Panic in Tokyo: Godzilla and Monster Mothra (Paniek in Tokyo Godzilla en het monster van Mothra; Netherlands)
Godzilla Against the Holy Island (Godzilla Contra a Ilha Sagrada; Brazil)
"Mothra's Song" (モスラの歌 Mosura no Uta) is a song composed by Yuji Koseki for the 1961 Toho film Mothra. The song was initially performed by the musical duo The Peanuts, comprised of sisters Emi and Yumi Ito, who portrayed the Shobijin in the film. The Peanuts reprised the role in Mothra vs. Godzilla, in which they also performed the song. The song was later performed by Sayaka Osawa and Keiko Imamura in Godzilla vs. Mothra, Megumi Kobayashi, Sayaka Yamaguki, and Misato Tate in the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy, and Chihiro Otsuka and Masami Nagasawa in Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.. The song is also included in the soundtrack for Godzilla: King of the Monsters, with choir version that was excluded from the film. A different version of Mothra's Song was composed by Masaru Sato for the 1966 film Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, and performed by Pair Bambi. "Mothra's Song" is typically sung by Mothra's twin fairies in films in which she appears in order to summon her to their aid. The song's lyrics originate from the Indonesian language, but are approximated to Japanese pronunciations. The 1992 rendition of the song additionally features a new verse containing Japanese lyrics. In addition to "Mothra's Song", Mothra's Shobijin have performed numerous other songs in order to summon Mothra throughout her film appearances, many of which also contain lyrics derived from the Indonesian language.
English Lyrics
Mothra oh Mothra
If we were to call for help
Over time, over sea, like a wave
You'd come
Our guardian angel
Mothra oh Mothra
If we were to call for help
Over time, over sea, like a wave
You'd come
Our guardian angel
Mothra oh Mothra
If we were to call for help
Over time, over sea, like a wave
You'd come
Our guardian angel
Mothra oh Mothra
Of forgotten kindness and ruined spirits
We pray for the people's spirit as we sing
This song of love
Mothra oh Mothra
If we were to call for help
Over time, over sea, like a wave
You'd come
Our guardian angel
Film Appearances of Mothra's Song
Mothra (1961)
Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)
Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)
Rebirth of Mothra (1996)
Rebirth of Mothra II (1997)
Rebirth of Mothra III (1998)
Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003)
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
In May 1964, Henry G. Saperstein acquired the American theatrical and television rights to the film, under the proposed working title Godzilla vs. the Giant Moth, and sold the rights to American International Pictures.
American International Pictures originally released Mothra vs. Godzilla in the United States under the title Godzilla vs. The Thing in September of 1964, and it opened in New York City on November 25, 1964. Mothra's appearance was kept out of promotional material, which hinted that Godzilla's opponent would be a hideous tentacled creature and referred to it only as "the Thing". New York Times film critic Eugene Archer reacted to the film and its title: "Well, there are three things, not counting the movie. One has wings and looks like a big bee. The other two are hatched from the first Thing's egg, after quite a bit of worshipful kootch dancing from a pair of foot-tall native goddesses..."
The most notable difference between Mothra vs. Godzilla and Godzilla vs. The Thing is an effects scene that was shot by Ishiro Honda and Eiji Tsuburaya's teams, yet does not appear in the Japanese version. After Godzilla attacks Nagoya, American Frontier Missile Cruisers fruitlessly bombard him, marking the first occasion the United States battled the monster. The sequence includes appearances by three foreign actors who were staples in Toho films at the time: Harold Conway, Robert Dunham, and Osman Yusuf.
In American video releases in the 1980's, the film was titled simply Godzilla vs. Mothra. However, Mothra is still repeatedly called "The Thing" in the dub, confusing many viewers who thought "The Thing" and "Mothra" were two separate monsters. Because of this, when TriStar released Godzilla vs. Mothra in the U.S., they re-titled it Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth so that it would not be confused with this film.
Warner-Pathe brought Godzilla vs. The Thing to UK theaters in 1965, as part of a double feature with The Time Travelers. It received an X rating from the British Board of Film Censors, preventing children under 16 from seeing it. Sony released the Japanese version of the film on Blu-ray in 2019 as part of the The Criterion Collection's Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975 box set.
Mothra vs. Godzilla is often considered by both fans and critics alike as being one of the best in the Showa series of Godzilla films.
A novelization of Mothra vs. Godzilla written by Takamasa Ueda was published by Kodansha in 1984. In the novelization, it is mentioned that there is a nuclear power plant on Iwa Island that has the potential to contaminate the majority of the Japanese archipelago if it is destroyed. There is a scene where the Chief Cabinet Secretary holds a press conference and warns people to evacuate.
A manga adaptation of the film illustrated by Fumio Hisamatsu was published in the May 1964 issue of the children's comic magazine Adventure King.
*Mothra vs. Godzilla was theatrically released in Japan on a double bill with Operation Anti Hell.
*This is the first Godzilla film to introduce Mothra into the franchise.
*The upper lip on the Godzilla suit in this film has a slight wobble. This was originally an accident; during the filming of the scene where Godzilla smashes into the Nagoya Castle, Haruo Nakajima fell and the suit's head slammed into the miniature, loosening the teeth and damaging the jaw. Special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya actually liked this effect and kept the suit like that for the rest of filming. The scene where Godzilla's head gets set on fire by a Curtiss C-46D bomb was also accidental, with Nakajima continuing to perform the scene as the script required. By the next film, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, the suit's head had sustained so much damage that it had to be replaced.
*This was the first film in the Godzilla franchise that utilized the recurring technique of implementing monsters from other films outside of the franchise, crossing them over with Godzilla lore.
*The scene where the Frontier Missile Cruisers
were attacking Godzilla was featured in American International Pictures' version, Godzilla vs. The Thing. This was actually a deleted scene in the Japanese version and not made exclusively for AIP, contrary to legend. It was seen briefly in the original Japanese trailer. The reason for its deletion was that Japanese viewers, who were still sensitive after World War II, were supposedly offended by seeing American missiles hit Japanese ground.
*Mothra vs. Godzilla and Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster are the only Godzilla films to be released in Japan in the same year.
*Mothra vs. Godzilla is one of two Toho Godzilla movies to be released in Japanese and American theaters in the same year, the other being Shin Godzilla.
*When the protagonists arrive on Infant Island, the skeleton of a turtle is seen in the background where it appears move slightly. This is often misunderstood to be an error but it's actually an intentional choice, inspired by the Italian documentary A Dog's Life (1962), which showcased the decomposed remains of a turtle that swayed in the wind. Many fans however took it further, pointing out that it appeared to blink suggesting it was indeed a living, albeit disfigured, creature. The creature eventually was nicknamed "Skeleturtle" and developed a cult following. It would make a cameo in a Godzilla comic and Toho themselves would sell merchandise of the creature, cementing its status as an actual kaiju with it's official name being translated to "Mystery Bones of Infant Island".
*This film marked one of the few instances in which Eiji Tsuburaya had to work at the opposite scale from his usual miniatures, instead creating giant furniture props for the fairies to inhabit. The props were built 8 times their actual scale.
*This is noted for being the final film in the Showa Era where Godzilla is explicitly depicted as a malevolent figure, as the subsequent film would begin transitioning Godzilla's role from a villainous one into a more heroic one. Japanese film historian Yoshikuni Igarashi noted that Godzilla's change occurred alongside those within Japanese society as memories of the WWII were fading, writing, "In 1960s Japan, a place overflowing with optimism inspired by economic growth, the darkness that prevailed in the mid-50s vanished from the screen and Japanese society, Godzilla tamed and transformed into the guardian of postwar Japan's prosperity."
*The Torada Beach sequence, in which Godzilla is attacked by the U.S. Navy, was excluded from the Japanese release and kept for the U.S. release. It is one of the few examples where footage of Godzilla was shot outdoors, away from the controlled environment of the studio.
*The Godzilla suit design, nicknamed Mosugoji, is a favorite among fans. After the comedic approach of King Kong vs. Godzilla, Toho return Godzilla back to his original malevolent depiction for this film. The Mosugoji suit, designed by Teizô Toshimitsu, was very different in appearance than its predecessor. Actor Haruo Nakajima had greater input in the suit-making process, which took two-months. Godzilla had less reptilian features with a more slender body that allowed Nakajima to give the monster a signature "attack posture". The snout was slightly shorter, and the yellow around the pupils was changed to white. The tail was also made longer, and the skin was painted a darker grey. Heels were also added inside the feet to give Nakajima better balance.
*This is the film that codifies the iconic Godzilla theme. A precursor to the theme was heard in King Kong vs. Godzilla, but was removed in the American version. This would be the first time Godzilla's theme was heard outside of Japan.
*The original story treatment made the film a more explicitly sequel to Mothra (1961), with the fictional nation of Rolisca, introduced in Mothra, playing a larger role. It would have been Rolisca, and not the United States, that unleashed the frontier missiles against Godzilla. The main antagonist, Torahata, did not exist and it was Godzilla's body that washed ashore and not Mothra's egg. This was changed as Mothra's egg was deemed a more sensible choice for commercial exploitation than the radioactive body of Godzilla. Godzilla was also going to threaten Himeji rather than Nagoya, and would have only confronted Mothra in her imago stage rather than her larval form.
*This was the first film in the series to be dubbed for American release by Titra Sound, the same studio that was also responsible for dubbing several Japanese animation features as well as "Speed Racer".
*The chemicals used in Mothra's webbing would caused burns to the unfortunate staff caught in it.
*The sets on Infant Island were originally meant to be much more elaborate and to showcase the devastation of nuclear testing with Honda wanting scene to be much more graphic. However, the art department lacked the resources to do so with Honda later regretting that he should have been more stubborn with the studio to allow him to fulfill his original vision.
*The refinery Godzilla destroys after emerging is the real life Nagoya Oil Refinery owned by the TOA Oil corporation.
*The miniature tanks were made out of aluminum, unlike the previous films that had tanks custom built out of cast iron. To maneuver them, the tanks were pulled along piano wires that ran hidden in the set. The specific design used was the Type 61 battle tank designed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries which had only been introduced three years earlier in 1961.
*During the battle between Godzilla and Mothra, Tsuburaya used several sizes of props, including a small Mothra prop that was on the end of a pole and a small immobile Godzilla puppet. He then undercranked the camera to speed up the movement for dynamic visuals dynamic, but it did not match the large props so most of the shots were cut, barring a few seconds.
*When Godzilla is wading in the water heading for Iwo Island, he is only shot from behind. This is due to the fact that Haruo Nakajima was actually wearing the suit from King Kong vs Godzilla instead. It was also used when Godzilla, wrapped in silk, fell into the ocean. This was done so the suit from this film would not be severely damaged when used in the subsequent film Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964).
*In the third episode of Godzilla Singular Point, "Tigerish", a billboard in Nigashio City promotes Happy Enterprises. In the same episode, Mei Kamino meets Takehiro Kai at a Happy Enterprises amusement park.
Follows
Godzilla (1954)
Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
Rodan (1956)
Mothra (1961)
King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963)
Followed by
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)
Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966)
Son of Godzilla (1967)
Destroy All Monsters (1968)
All Monsters Attack (1969)
Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)
Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)
Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)
Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
The Return of Godzilla (1984)
Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)
Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)
Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)
Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)
Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999)
Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000)
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)
Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla (2002)
Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003)
Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)
Shin Godzilla (2016)
